Gardening tips after heavy rain

As Autumn arrived with headline-making intensity this year, our gardens have faced some uncharacteristic challenges for the season and now’s the time to show them some tender loving care.

Plants suffer from shock when conditions become extreme and can struggle to ‘bounce back’ quickly. Give them a helping hand by…

• Cutting back any broken or badly damaged branches on trees and shrubs making sure your secateurs are sharp and clean to avoid further damage or spread of disease.

• Give your plants including pot plants a treatment of Seasol or Searles Seamax to alleviate some of the stress, help their root systems gain strength and protect them from wind burn, (apply to the foliage and soil).

• Replenish the good bacteria in your soil. If you’ve been impacted by flooding or heavy rains, your soil may have leached out many essential microbes. Add microbial products such as GoGo Juice, Soil Activator or Garden Mate to get the balance back.

• Water deep, but much less often. As the weather is cooling, encourage deep root growth and prevent fungal issues by ensuring you water for longer periods less frequently.

• Mulch. As soil is often eroded and plant surface roots exposed in bad weather, it’s necessary to protect them, maintain water retention and suppress weeds by mulching.

Autumn is also the perfect time to tidy and feed and of course, plant all those fabulous cooler season veggies such as broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, leafy greens, spinach and carrots.

Use this time to prune summer flowering hibiscus and bougainvillea, deadhead roses and fertilise citrus. Caterpillars love a change of season, so watch out for them on fresh growth.

If your garden is more container than yard, re-pot anything that has outgrown its home or hasn’t had a change of soil for over a year.

Add a splash of colour with the amazing array of pretty annuals available in seedlings now including pansy, viola, alyssum and snapdragons, all perfect for a hanging basket, old wheelbarrow, large pot or garden bed. Perennial plants and shrubs such as daisy, chrysanthemum, rose and carnations will also be arriving in garden centres this month. Give them all a space with plenty of sunshine, a regular liquid fertiliser to encourage blooms and trim of any flowers once they’ve died off to keep them looking good and repeat flowering.

Top Tips:

• many herbs grow better in autumn, so plant your favourites now

• lettuce and coriander won’t bolt to seed when it’s cooler

• plant marigolds and white violas amongst your veggie seedlings to help deter white cabbage moth & other pests

Happy gardening!